An eighth-grade honor roll unites a special group of 13 high achievers graduating from Glacier and Flathead high schools this weekend.

In 2010, the entire St. Matthew’s eighth-grade class made the first-quarter honor roll. At the time, it was the first for a whole class, then-Principal Joanna Eichner said in a November 2010 Daily Inter Lake article.

It was a forecast of things to come.

To be on the honor roll at St. Matthew’s is quite an achievement where one A- will drop a grade point average to 3.98. Students must earn at least 3.33 to make the honor roll. In eighth grade, the group averaged 3.87.

On Friday, current Principal Lauren Smith had the opportunity to recognize 11 of those students in a packed church during a Mass and honor roll ceremony for current students.

While many things have changed — height, hairstyle, fashion and the friendly rivalry that has grown between the students who attend different high schools — some things remain the same, such as maintaining top high grades.

All the students in attendance were summa or magna cum laude in their respective high schools. Most also received International Baccalaureate or Advanced Placement designations in addition to their involvement in extracurriculars and school leadership positions.

“People were thinking maybe we were easy on them,” Smith said in noting that the students’ top grades weren’t a fluke. “I want to say how proud your St. Matt’s family is of you.”

Smith also thanked parents for their involvement in students’ lives.

“We thank you as parents to do what you’ve done to have an entire class of alumni be this successful is amazing and it starts in the home,” Smith said.

Two of the students, Flathead’s Daniel Olszewski and Glacier’s Gabe Leopold, graduate summa cum laude with 4.0 grade-point averages.

Additionally, Olszewski earned International Baccalaureate Merit Distinction while Leopold achieved Advanced Placement Merit Distinction.

Olszewski and Leopold agreed it wasn’t too difficult to make all A’s in high school after surviving the tough grading scale at St. Matthew’s.

Flathead’s Gavin Pirrie graduates magna cum laude with a full International Baccalaureate diploma. Other Flathead students from St. Matthew’s graduating magna cum laude with International Baccalaureate distinctions are Kody Butts, Steele Jochim and Jacob Welch. Sara Jensen also graduates magna cum laude.

Three Glacier students from St. Matthew’s — Grant Germann, Wyatt Germann and Keaton Johnson — will graduate magna cum laude with Advanced Placement Merit Distinction. Hannah Liss also graduates magna cum laude from Glacier.

Students who did not attend Friday’s ceremony but were part of the St. Matthew’s eighth-grade class in 2010-11 are Lara Andenoro and Jessica Simmons.

Did they expect to be doing so well throughout high school? The answer was a resounding “yes.”

And how do you motivate a students to start aiming high in eighth grade when college seems so distant?

A couple of the students agreed that it was their parents who had high expectations. Several said it was the competitive streak in each of them that pushed them to do better than the next person. Another student joked that it just takes candy, food or money to motivate an eighth-grader.

Some of the students offered familiar pieces of advice to incoming eighth-graders and high school freshmen:

“It takes a lot of hard work, basically staying on top of your assignments and having good time management skills, especially when you’re doing IB classes and extracurricular activities and family on top of it,” Olszewski said.

“Dedication is a big part of it too,” Pirrie added. “Push through.”

“Get to know your teachers,” Johnson said.

“Have a passion,” Welch said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at [email protected]